In pursuit of building anything truly meaningful in your life, career or business, learning how to overcome adversity during your journey is critical in order for you to reach your goal. There is an adversity to overcome that exists in the moment where you must take action and change your direction immediately, and there is a long-term obstacles to overcome that goes along with reaching your lifelong dreams. If you talk about a dream, it becomes a goal. If you can see the goal every day in your mind, it becomes real. If you put a date on achieving your goal, it becomes possible.

Obstacles that require a quick response to turn you back in the right direction are often the case for high paying professions such as professional athletes, entertainers, politicians, top sales professionals and business leaders. These individuals are in the spotlight, playing in the big tournament, in a career-changing audition, delivering their key presentation or speech that if fully executed at that moment, would allow them to experience a pivotal life changing milestone. It is a sink or swim moment and they must perform. Through years of proper training, many have learned to manage the states of their mind and body. They can, typically with an unnoticeable trigger, transform themselves back into a peak state where they perform at their best. With a snap of their finger, a clap of their hands or a change in their posture, they increase their energy level and fill their mind with positive thoughts, and once again are confident to win. That trigger immediately reminds them of what that winning performance looks and feels like.

Retraining your mind and body to accomplish this is by no means an easy task, most of us need support. Having the right people in your life to help push you in the right direction can dramatically influence your outcome. I was reminded of this while watching one of the top golfers in the world, Jordan Spieth, attempt to win one of the biggest golf tournaments in the world, the British Open. He had a three shot lead going into the final round but things were beginning to unravel quickly. He hit his tee shot on the opening hole and instead of bouncing on the fairway it stayed in the thick long grass. After locating his golf ball his attitude changed and he started verbalizing his frustration over and over. His caddy began the journey of helping him with the mental aspect of overcoming immediate adversity. This process started on the first hole, where he told Jordan “You need to get over it,” after the frustration continued to occupy his thoughts on the unfortunate bounce.

Surrendering the tournament lead and continuing to play at a level that would not allow him to win the tournament, Jordan’s caddy approached him again but this time more directly. He said, “I’ve got something to say to you. You remember that group you were with?” He was referencing Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps who Spieth saw during his recent trip to Cabo San Lucas. “You’re that caliber of an athlete, but I need you to believe that right now because you’re in a great position in this tournament. This is a new tournament. We’re starting over here.” The mental shift worked, his physical posture improved and a five stroke turnaround occurred, finishing the tournament as the champion. He graciously thanked his caddy for the mental coaching support that helped him win.

Do you have people in your life who encourage you in this manner? I am not talking about a boss. I am speaking about the individuals you surround yourself with. If the people around you don’t inspire you to be more and reach new levels of success and happiness then you need to fire them as friends or colleagues. When you are stuck, do you have a support system in place to remind you that you deserve success, you deserve the next great thing for your life? It will not do you any good to dream big if you have not surrounded yourself with individuals who also have big dreams and want to continue to better themselves.

If you are falling behind on your goals, make a shift and start over. The real question you have to ask yourself is: do you believe it and do you have people around you who will support that belief? You deserve success!